§ 32. Mr. W. THORNEasked the Minister of Labour whether in 1913 there were raised from mines 48,018 tons of barytes of a value of £41,460, or about 17s. perton, and this figure had increased in 1918 to 66,360 tons of a value of £218,592, or about £3 6s. per ton; whether he could state, approximately, what were the wages of barytes miners in 1913 and what they are at the present moment; whether in 1913 24,688 tons of fluor spar were mined valued at £9,436, or 7s. 6d. per ton, and in this production had risen to 53,498 tons in 1918 of a value of £41,310, or about 16.s. per ton, and what were the wages of fluor spar miners in 1913 and what are they at the present moment; and whether he can arrange for the wages of these two sections of miners to be stated each month in the "Labour Gazette" Returns in the same manner as those of other classes of workers are returned?
§ Sir R. HORNEI propose to circulate this answer in the OFFICIAL REPORT.
§ The follwing is the statement referred to:—
§ According to the Reports of the Chief Inspector of Mines, the total production of barium (compounds) was 50,045 tons, of an average value of 16s. 10d. per ton, in 1913, and 66,360 tons, of an average value of 65s. 11d. in 1918; and that of fluor spar was 53,663 tons, of an average value of 5s. 7d. per ton, in 1913, and 53,498 tons, with an average value of 15s. 5d. per ton, in 1918. Statistics are not available as to the wages of the workpeople engaged in these industries.
§ The particulars of numbers employed and total wages, published each month in the "Labour Gazette," relate only to certain of the principal industries. In come cases barytes and fluor spar are produced at lead and zinc mines, for which statistics are already published, and I do not think that the numbers employed at mines producing only barytes or fluor spar are sufficiently great to provide a sound basis for useful statistics.